Chapter 8 - Humility: The Way of Truth

Redefining the Part as the Whole

There is an incident recorded in the fifth chapter of the Book of Acts

concerning the sale of a piece of real estate. Had this episode taken
place in our present generation, it would have had an entirely
different conclusion. If some contemporary Ananias and Sapphira
brought the proceeds, no doubt considerable, from the sale of their
property to the elders of their church, they would likely be celebrated
and applauded. The esteem in which their spirituality was regarded
would increase greatly. Ananias might be assured a place on the
church board or a position as an elder or a deacon. But this incident
occurred in another age, in an hour when the Spirit of God prevailed
in such magnitude and purity. That same act, which might well be
celebrated today, resulted in sudden judgment and death. We can
only suspect that the Church has moved a long distance away from
the purity, power, and relentless pursuit of truth that characterized it
at its inception. Thankfully, there is a God who has not changed and
who is intent upon returning us to that same high standard.

But a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira,

sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for
himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion
of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "Ananias,
why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to
keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained
unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was
it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived
this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to
God." And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and
breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of
it. (Ac 5:1-5 NAS).

Ananias and Sapphira probably brought an impressive sum. Their sin

was not that they were stingy, but that they made what they gave
appear to be a whole when it was only a part, however great that part
may have been. We might be tempted to ask ourselves, "Was what
they did really so wrong? After all, if I give a large sum, isn't that
virtually the same as giving all that I have? The fact is, I am keeping
back only a small portion for myself, so it isn't really a lie to say I
gave all. It really is as if I had laid the whole amount that I had in the
offering basket. If some people in the church conclude from my
generosity that I gave all that I had, it would be "legalistic" and
"literalistic" to correct them. Anyway, compared to what others in the
church are giving, my portion really is the equivalent of giving all. It
represents a total amount." So the logic behind Ananias and
Sapphira's act goes. They were not the last Christians to redefine the
part as the whole and to justify letting it appear as such! Peter did not
operate according to that sort of logic. He discerned by the Spirit of
Truth, and he unmasked and confronted Ananias and Sapphira's lie.
They may have succeeded in deceiving themselves, but not the Holy
Spirit. Ananias and Sapphira were not only liars, but also thieves.
Every liar is a thief, because every lie is a way of obtaining what is
not rightfully his.

Abundant Grace and Wholeheartedness

The verses immediately before the story of Ananias and Sapphira

describe a church in which,

Those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one
of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own;
but all things were common property to them...there was not a
needy person among them, for all who were owners of lands
or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the
sales, and lay them at the apostles' feet. (Ac 4:32-35 NAS).

The Church in Jerusalem was wholehearted, and one result was that
"with great power the apostles were giving witness to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon
them all." (Ac 4:33 NAS). Ananias and Sapphira lived in the midst of
that Church. They saw the abundant grace, the joy, and the depth of
communion that was being experienced by people who had given all.
They desired that abundant grace for themselves, but they failed to
make the connection between such grace and the wholeheartedness
of those who were experiencing it. They had seen Barnabas and
others come and lay their gifts at the apostles' feet. They did the
same, but only in appearance, only outwardly. They sought to obtain
power, joy, and great grace by bringing only a part, in place of the
whole.

We need to ask ourselves, are we doing anything different from what

Ananias and Sapphira did when we seek and expect abundant grace
and power, while giving ourselves only in part, while claiming to have
given ourselves wholly? We all want the abundant grace, the
profound comfort, the intimate communion that acknowledging and
walking in all of truth imparts, but we want it at the price of
acknowledging truth only as words and doctrines. We want to speak
truths but not to be true, to possess truth but not to obey it. We are
bringing our partial, verbal truth and laying it at the feet of the
apostolic standard and wanting our portion to be accepted as the
whole! After all, isn't our orthodox, evangelical, fundamental,
pentecostal affirmation really so much greater than that of so many
other Christians? We may have retained a small portion for
ourselves, that is, the right to exaggerate now and again, to speak a
few "white" lies, to appear to be what we are not. No one is perfect,
and to insist upon walking in truth is to be legalistic, after all.
Therefore, the rationalizations continue with us just as with Ananias
and Sapphira. The reality is that if we claim to be men and women of
truth, while inwardly reserving the right to be untrue, justifying little
compromises and hypocrisies, then we have presented the part as
the whole and purposed in our hearts to lie to the Holy Spirit. James
wrote that the violation of one commandment was the breaking of the
whole law (Jas 2:10). Deciding to tolerate one deceit is to violate the
whole truth. To be ninety-nine percent true and represent it as the
whole truth is to lie utterly.

Truth that is not the whole truth is not the truth at all. The man who
embraces most of the truth is not necessarily any closer to the truth
than the one who affirms none of it. In fact, he may be much further
from it. It is remarkable how far some people are prepared to go in
acknowledging who Jesus is. They think themselves quite generous
when they recognize Him as a great prophet and teacher and moral
example. We tend to applaud such "openness." We are quick to
become excited about how close to salvation such a person seems
to be. After all, they have assented to ninety percent of the truth. How
could someone have such insight, how could they grasp so many
spiritual truths, and still be enemies of truth? How many Christians
have felt intimidated and foolish in the presence of such a "truth-
seeker," unable to insist upon that last missing portion? "Surely such
a person is, in effect, as much a Christian as I am. Surely his part,
being so great, being so close to the whole, really is equivalent to the
whole." If we have not understood the nature of truth, we will be just
so intimidated. If we do not insist upon the whole truth for ourselves,
then we will falter and step back from insisting upon it for another.

Embracing the Whole Truth

To acknowledge Jesus as prophet and teacher, yet to refuse to affirm
all that He said about Himself is to deny Him completely. Such partial
acknowledgment is not to be applauded; it is cause for the greater
concern because it is a partial truth offered in place of the whole.
Therefore, it is a perilous deceit and a lie. Someone may be
prepared to bring a very generous portion of the praise and acclaim
due to Jesus and not the whole, but it is the part retained that makes
all the difference.

It is that final portion of truth that decides our relationship to truth.

The scripture that offends our pride, that goes against the grain of
our own understanding, that is likely to offend others, is the one that
matters most. That last statement, which, if finally affirmed, really
gives God final authority in our lives, determines everything. Yes, I
believe all that Scripture teaches, except…about hell…about
judgment…about authority. Yes, I believe God is just and sovereign
in all His deeds, except in this tragedy, except in this personal loss.
I'll give thanks and praise to Him in all circumstances, except for this
one. The issue of belief, of love, of lordship, depends not upon the
belief or love or submission we find it easy to give, but upon the part
we are most tempted to keep back for ourselves.

Peter said to Ananias, "You have not lied to men, but to God." (Ac
5:4 NAS). To whom do we think we are lying when we give ourselves
in part and represent it as the whole, when we worship in part, pray
in part, love in part, believe in part? "And as he heard these words,
Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came
upon all who heard of it." (Ac 5:5 NAS). It was when Ananias
heard "these words" that the full magnitude of his deception broke
upon him. "You have not lied only to men; you have not deceived
only yourself. Your rationalizations, your self-justifications, your
boasting in being a lover of truth, while refusing to assent to all that
God has spoken, constitute a lie to God Himself." Does the judgment
that came upon Ananias and Sapphira seem far too harsh, too
severe to us? Until we perceive the magnitude of their sin, as well as
our own, their judgment will remain an offense and a mystery to us.
Ananias and Sapphira never denied that Christ came in the flesh.
They never denied His bodily resurrection. They never contradicted a
single doctrine of the faith. Yet, for their deceit they received an
instant judgment. That judgment was a statement of how much value
God places upon truth. That high value was communicated to the
whole Church. "Great fear came upon the whole church and
upon all who heard of these things." (Ac 5:11 NAS). They were all
braced and sobered by the fear that they, too, might be carried out
and buried, not for just a breach of orthodoxy, but for presenting to
God a part and calling it the whole.

The Fear of the God of Truth

How many of us would like to see the Spirit of God acting as severely
with those of us who have indulged in deception and half-truths in
our own generation as the Spirit did in theirs? There is an absence in
our generation of the "great fear" that came upon the Church in
Jerusalem, an absence of the awe and trembling that filled believers
who stood before a God who would not countenance a lie. It is no
coincidence that this high regard for truth and this holy fear of the
God of truth are not the only things missing from our generation. The
very next verse begins,

Now by the hands of the apostles...numerous and startling

signs and wonders were being performed among the
people...there were being added to the Lord those who
believed...so that they [even] kept carrying out the sick into
the streets and placing them on couches and sleeping pads
[in the hope] that as Peter passed by at least his shadow
might fall on some of them. And the people gathered also
from the towns and hamlets around Jerusalem, bringing the
sick and those troubled with foul spirits, and they were all
cured. (Ac 5:12-16 Amplified).

The Spirit of God was present in great power to heal the sick and to
bring many to repentance in the very same hour that Peter was
moved by the same Spirit to confront Ananias and Sapphira. That
power is absent today, and it will not be restored to the Church until
the Church is restored to the standard of truth that God established
in the beginning.

That men and women are not being struck dead instantly in our
congregations is not a statement of God's tolerance of our deceits
and lies. Judgment may not be as sudden, but it is no less certain.
"Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterwards
his mouth will be filled with gravel." (Pr 20:17 NAS). How much of
the esteem, the joy, the prestige, and the peace presently being
enjoyed in the Church is destined to turn to gravel in our mouths? It
tastes sweet at the moment. There has been no Peter to challenge
us. Truth has fallen into low regard, and there is little, if any, fear of
the God who hates lies in any form. "White lies" and exaggerations
and subtle misrepresentations are so frequent as to be considered
normal, if not even desirable and required, in the conduct of Christian
life. The perverse logic of deceit is made to seem true after all. If the
ministers of God who transgress against truth are not being struck
down like Ananias and Sapphira, God must have changed, or else
truth has changed since the days of the Book of Acts. The reality is
that God has not changed. Our lies are still killing us, only more
slowly. We are starving, because the bread of deceit, no matter how
sweet and plentiful, is not real food.

Every lie is an act of astonishing presumption. What must take place

within my heart for me to believe that God does not discern my
deceit? I must exalt my own rationalizations above the Spirit of God.
Every lie is an elevation of self above truth, above the one lied to. I
cannot lie to someone and still regard him as greater or even equal.
The very act of lying lifts me above the one deceived; it lowers him in
my sight. By lying to the Holy Spirit, Ananias and Sapphira were
exalting themselves above God.

It is not surprising, then, that Peter said to Ananias, "Why has Satan
filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" (Ac 5:3). The devil was
a liar from the beginning, and he is the father of lies (Jn 8:44). He is
also the father of pride. His fall was an act of self-exaltation, a
supreme presumption to ascend up to the level of God Himself. His
pride is itself a lie, an assertion of being more than He in whom truth
resides. Pride and deceit have been intimately related from the
beginning. They have a common nature, a common source. It was
indeed nothing less than Satan that filled Ananias' heart, just as
surely as it was no one less than God to whom Ananias lied.

Every Lie has Root in the Father of Lies

Ananias' lie implied the presence and working of the spirit of the lie in
his heart. Every lie has its root and inspiration in the father of lies, but
the operation of that spirit in no way exonerated Ananias. In the very
next verse Peter asks Ananias, "Why is it that you have conceived
this deed in your heart?" (Ac 5:4). Satan filled, and Ananias
conceived. Ananias was no innocent victim; he was a full and
intimate accomplice. He welcomed the deceit and willingly agreed
with it. Ananias and Sapphira were no more innocent than were
Adam and Eve in the garden when the serpent came and offered
them the first lie: "You shall not die." They proceeded to reach up and
eat the fruit that promised exaltation and equality with God. Every lie
is an assertion of self, a lifting of self above truth to a level equal to
the Author of truthGod Himself. It is a satanic defiance of God.
Pride and presumption invite and draw to themselves the father of
lies. The ground is well fertilized with rationalizations and
justifications. Once a heart is filled with such arguments, it is only a
matter of time before every sort of lie is conceived. Satan comes to
such a heart, and he finds much opportunity in it.

The Character of the King

When the devil came to Jesus, he found nothing in Him. Jesus was
utterly true. There was nothing in Him that could receive and nurture
a lie. There was no desire to exceed the bounds of truth. That
yielding to the limits God has given us is true humility, and it is the
essence of walking in truth. Jesus is the truth because He is perfectly
and truly humble.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with

humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more
important than himself...Have this attitude in yourselves
which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in
the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be
grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. (Phil
2:3-7 NAS).

These verses describe the mystery of the incarnation of God in

human flesh. They are applicable to all of us who are called sons of
God. As such, we are afforded every opportunity and temptation to
exalt ourselves and become arrogant. It is tempting to derive from
our sonship an elevated, grand image of ourselves; therefore, we
need all the more to be reminded of the character of the King and His
Kingdom. Jesus came down from above and never once lifted
Himself up again. "And being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross." (Phil 2:8 NAS). His humility was not in
part. It did not stop short of totality. He refused, without reservation or
limit, to defend Himself, to save some last shred of reputation and
image, to spare Himself the supreme pain of rejection and
misunderstanding. He was utterly true and humble. No appeal to
save and exalt Himself, to the amount of "good" He could do for God,
could take root in His heart. Not even the sight of pained confusion
and disappointment in the faces of His followers could provoke Him
to save Himself. The disgrace and humiliation of the cross was the
final test, the perfection of His humility and the sealing of His
character. Paul writes, "Have this attitude in yourselves which
was also in Christ Jesus." (Phil 2:5).

How are we, as well as the world, going to recognize a people who
live in all of the truth of the gospel? How will people know that we are
indeed children of the King? It is neither going to be by seeing how
highly we exalt ourselves, nor by the grandiose architecture of our
meeting places, nor by the size and wealth of our ministries. The
sure sign that we are in the truth, and in the One who is true, is that
we have this attitude in us that was in Him. It is vain to boast about
having the "full gospel" when you have only the smallest part of the
character of the One that gospel is about.

Humility: Our Need—God’s Provision

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit." (Phil 2:3). The

elimination of such motives from the heart would render one instantly
true, because lying and deceit would have no ground left in which to
be conceived. But how do I go about obeying such an exhortation
when the temptations toward selfishness and empty conceit are so
powerful and subtle and ever-present? No wonder Paul goes on to
say, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil
2:12). The Amplified Bible says, "Work out, cultivate, carry out to
the goal and fully complete, your own salvation with reverence
and awe and trembling [self-distrust, that is, with serious
caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against
temptation]." (Phil 2:12 Amplified). The requirement to be true is
itself overwhelming, once it is fully grasped. The requirement to be
humble and to have this mind in us that was also in Christ as the
ground and basis for being true is even more exacting. There is a
fearful diligence that characterizes the one who has glimpsed the
subtlety and pervasiveness of his own selfishness and pride and who
has sensed the real meaning and value of truth. That fearfulness and
trembling heightens one's sensitivity to the presence of the stop
signs of the Spirit. It heightens one's awareness of what every
gesture and intonation of voice and expression of face is
communicating.

"Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God
who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good
pleasure." (Phil 2:12-13 NAS). Knowing that it is God in us, willing
and doing what pleases Himself, should cause us all the more to
tremble, but the trembling that this knowledge produces is not the
sort that paralyzes and drives one to despair. This ultimate source of
trembling is at the same time the ultimate source of hope. As the
Spirit of Truth is provided to fulfill the requirement to be true, so the
Spirit of ChristGod in usis the provision to fulfill the requirement
to be humble. God's provision is hidden to the man who still believes
in his heart that he has no need of it. The one who still believes that
he can be like Christ, even in Christ's humility, the one for whom the
mind of Christ, like trueness of life, is still his own accomplishment
and good work, is left blind to God's provision. The belief that I can
attain humility is the ultimate conceit. The imitation, the simulation in
my own strength of the mind that was in Christ Jesus is the ultimate
act of hubris and the most vain and blasphemous of lies. It is an
exaltation of self and a misconception of humility. It is the failure to
see humility as a state of being to which only the Spirit of God can
bring one.

Who is Sufficient?

The provision of God is reserved for the man who cries out with Paul,
"Who is sufficient for these things?" (II Cor 2:16). The realization
that it is God in us who is willing and doing, while producing fear and
trembling at the same time, produces the ultimate humility that sets
us free to become true. The truth is, we cannot do it ourselves. It
takes God in us to make us like Jesus, to make us true. The final
salvation from the tyranny of self comes with the revelation that we
cannot make ourselves humble or true. We have only to
wholeheartedly desire and intend it. We cannot perfect ourselves,
and what is more humbling or true than that?

We want to arise, to ascend, to go up, but we seem almost incapable

of apprehending that God's path to the high place to which we aspire
is one that always leads down. The realization of God in us making
us true is a humbling, a lowering of our souls. Jesus came down from
heaven to earth, down from divinity to washing the feet of His own
disciples, down to the Jordan, down into baptism, down into
disrepute, rejection, weakness and into a naked, humiliating death.
"Therefore God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him
the name which is above every name." (Phil 2:9 NAS). Every lie is
a self-exaltation. Pride is capable only of reaching up. If we are to
become true, then we are going to have to descend, not rise, into all
the truth.
What Goes Up Must First Go Down
Now this expression, ‘He ascended,' what does it mean
except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the
earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended
far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. (Eph
4:9-10 NAS).

In the divine economy, that which goes up must first go down.

Anyone who enters into the truths of God in any other way is a thief.
You cannot climb over the wall. You cannot use intellect or emotion
or spiritual experience to vault over it in order to obtain divine truth.
Attempting to do so is itself irrefutable proof that one is an acquirer,
as opposed to being a lover, of truth. The lover is the one who is
drawn towards and enters through the gate of humility; he is the one
who hears his Master's voice and follows Him. The Spirit of Christ
leads him into all truth along a path of ever-increasing humility. Within
the bounds of truth, lawfully entered, there are sufficient insights and
experiences to satisfy the keenest intellect and the most sensitive
soul. They are rendered benign and pure only by humility. Having this
mind in us, which was in Him, is the beginning and the end of
becoming true.

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry

Jesus made yet another descent that is recorded in Scripture, which

has come to be known as His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The
word "triumphal" suggests a mile long cavalcade of cars with
polished chrome gleaming, motorcycle escorts, banners streaming,
and all of the accouterments of pomp and grandeur. However, Jesus'
entry into Jerusalem was riding on the back of the foal of a donkey,
down from the Mount of Olives. The colt was so young that no one
had ever sat upon it. The scene is a picture of absurdity: a loping
figure, jerking and halting, a young colt with a grown man upon its
back, Jesus' legs almost touching the ground. This was the coming
of the King into Jerusalem. No gold and splendor, no trumpets, no
sedan chair carried by servants. "This took place," Matthew
comments, "to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
‘Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an
ass.’" (Mt 21:4-5 RSV).

The initial response of the people was to rejoice greatly even as

Zechariah the prophet had said (Zec 9:9):

And those who went before and those who followed cried out,
‘Hosannah! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming!'
(Mk 11:9-10 RSV).

Their response proved short-lived, though. Just a short time later,

Jesus stood lamenting over a Jerusalem that was rejecting Him and
His Kingdom, refusing the comfort of God and leaving no expectation
before itself but that of devastation and judgment:

Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning

those who are sent to you!...Behold, your house is forsaken
and desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until
you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’
(Mt 23:37-39 RSV).

Desiring His Humility More Than His Power

Our response to God and His Spirit has not changed much since
then. The power and exhilaration of the Spirit is what we first notice
and respond to. We are quick to shout "Hosannah!" but very slow to
recognize the implications of the humble foal that the Lord seeks out
and upon which He chooses to come. Only belatedly do we begin to
realize that the donkey's colt is no accident, no dispensable detail,
but an inseparable part of the coming of the King. He cannot come
into His Church or the world except in and by the most perfect
humility. It is His nature, His very name. One can almost hear the
Spirit, looking down upon the Jerusalem of this present generation,
repeating Jesus' words, "You will not see Me again, not in the power
and authority and reality that was in the beginning, until you can say,
`Blessed is he who comes, not in pomp but in lowliness, not in
arrogance and prestige but in humility on the back of a donkey's foal,
in the name of the Lord.'" If we are going to receive the Spirit of the
Lord in power, without measure, then we are going to have to
welcome Him and desire Him and esteem Him as lowly and to
desire His humility for ourselves more than His power. If He is not
welcome in humility, then we will face the prospect of having our
house left forsaken and desolate.

How is the Spirit of Christ going to come into a world desperate for
reality and truth? He needs a body to indwell; He needs flesh and
blood to convey the very Spirit of Jesus. We have been busy
preparing ourselves with all the riches of the world. We have
supposed that what He is waiting for is a Church confident of its
power, able to match and outdo the world in assertiveness, grandeur,
and wealth, when He has actually been waiting for a very different
Church, a very different Body in which to convey Himself to the world
—a Church that most resembles a lowly donkey, a colt, the foal of an
ass. We—and the world—shall not see Him again until we are willing
to be that.

If at the heart of a lie is pride and arrogance, then at the heart of the
truth is humility. Dishonesty is inseparable from pride; it can inhabit
and express itself only through self-assertiveness, self-serving, and
self-glorification. The spirit of a lie seeks out a body commensurate
with its nature. It is at home with arrogance and presumption. The
Spirit of Truth cannot and will not indwell and bless such a body. The
disciples received the Spirit in full measure because they were
brought down into humility and truth. That pattern has not been and
will not be changed. All good things come down from heaven to
those lowly enough to receive them. If we are waiting patiently,
faithfully serving our Master in the daily, mundane requirements of
life, tethered like that donkey, beside the Calvary road, Jesus will
know where we are. He will call for us at the right time, and we will
enter His Kingdom with Him.

The New Jerusalem

There is yet one more instance in Scripture of something coming

down from above:

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her
husband...and one of the seven angels...came and spoke with
me, saying, `Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of
the lamb.' And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and
high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of
God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of
crystal-clear jasper...And the city was pure gold, like clear
glass...And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the
Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. And the city has no
need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory
of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. And the
nations shall walk by its light…and nothing unclean and no
one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come
into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's
book of life. (Rev 21:2,9-11,18-27 NAS).
The last vision of the Church given in Scripture is of a city in which
every stone is perfectly fitted to every other, and it is as clear as
crystal, without the least shadow or haze. Light flows through this
Church unimpeded and undistorted. It is completely visible to the
world, not because it has lifted itself up, not because it has mastered
the arts of public relations and media exploitation, but because it is
transparent, true, and filled with light.

It has no need of natural light. The glory of God is its illumination.

And the lamp in which and through which that light shines is the
Lamb of God. It is Christ in His humility, in His meekness, as the
Lamb of God, who sits upon the throne and who fills the Church with
living light. The light of the Church by which the nations shall walk
comes through the humility of Christ. No unclean things, no
abominations, and no lies can come into it. No stone that deflects
light onto itself, that tries to possess and control and employ the light,
or to bend and shape it for its own ends can be a part of this city. The
Bride of the Lamb is without spot or wrinkle. She is free from all guile.
She is humble and true. She is the glory of Christ, who is the glory of
God. This is what God is preparing, stone by stone, and He will
continue until He can look down upon us and rejoice to see His
children walking in truth. Our destiny is to be more than merely
"right." We are ordained to be filled with light. We need to set our
sights on this goal, to glimpse the city descending out of heaven, and
to seek the grace that is given to make us transparent stones,
radiating the light and the glory and the truth of God. Amen.

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